Superregenerative receiver circuit



April 18, 1950 w. E. BRADLEY 2,504,635

SUPERREGENERATIVE RECEIVER CIRCUIT I Filed July 15,1944

--0 s9 UARE WAVE .-?6ENERATOR INVENTOR. WZZWQ??? Patented Apr. 18, 1950 SUPEBREGENERATIVE RECEIVER CIRCUIT William E. Bradley, Swarthmore, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Philco Corporation,

Philadelphia, vania Pa., a corporation of Pennsyl- Applicatlon July 15, 1944, Serial No. 545,078

8 Claims. (Cl. 250-) This invention relates broadly to vacuum tube oscillators. The invention also relates to superregcnerative radio receivers, and more particularly to an improved superregenerative receiver having novel means for effecting automatic regeneration control. The invention includes circuit improvements which result in a mode of operation which is .independent of minor'circuit changes, variations in oscillator supply potentials, and signal amplitude changes.

A conventional superregenerative receiver may be characterized as a vacuum tube circuit which comprises a highly regenerative amplifier and a detector. The regenerative amplifier is made alternately oscillatory and .noneosc'illatory at a super-audible rate. Since. the sensitivity of such a circuit is greatest when the eifective resistance of the tank circuit is approximately zero, the direct current energizing and quenching poten tials are normally adjusted until a mode of operation is reached such that oscillations just reach full amplitude before they are quenched. When designed for the reception of ultra-high radio frequencies the conventional superregenerative receiver has the disadvantage of being sensitive to circuit changes, such as may be produced by the replacement of tubes, variations in supply voltages, and variation in signal strength. To eliminate these difiiculties the present invention provides an improved regeneration control which greatly improves the operation and stability of the superregenerative receiver.

According to the present invention, the abovementioned disadvantages of the conventional superregenerative circuit are surmounted by providing the oscillator (i. e. the regenerative amplifier) with a novel automatic grid-biasing arrangement comprising the combination of a pair of leak and condenser circuits, one of said circuits having a very short time constant while the other has a. very long time constant. The leak and condenser circuit (hereinafter "Rf-C" circuit") having the long time constant tends to maintain constant grid current, and hence tends to adjust the bias of the oscillator 50 as to maintain the average starting time" of the oscillator at a constant value;- this value is conveniently adjustable by adjustment of the high resistance element of the said R,C circuit. .The- R-C circuit having the short time constant favors the occurrence of veryprapid compensatory changes in grid bias inresponseto changes in oscillation amplitude, sudden changes in supply voltages,'or. the like. In consequence-thedesired mode of oscillation ispreserved. In the absence of this novel combination of H circuits, it has been found that the mode of oscillation of the oscil lator may be unduly subject to supply voltage variations, circuit changes, and the like. In some instances squegging, or self-quenchin tends to occur; previously this conditiorihad to be remedied as it occurred by manually effecting compensatory changes in certain of the circuit constants. By the present invention the necessary compensatory changes are effected automatically.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide a superregenerative detector circuit which has a stable mode of operation which is unafiectedby variations in supply potentials, or minor changes in circuit elements.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved oscillator circuit which is not subject to squegging or self-quenching.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a superregenerative receiver having a substantially constant sensitivity over a wide tuning range. v I

A further object of the. inventionis to provide means for automatically controlling regeneration in a superregenerative receiver circuit, or in oscillators generally.

These and other objects of the invention will subsequently become apparent by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,.wherein Fig. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram of a superregenerative receiver circuit constructed in accordance with the principles of the present in-. vention; and

Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram representing the efiects of the novel combination of R-C circults employed in the embodiment of Fig. 1.

Reference may now be had to the improved superregenerative circuit shown schematically in Fig. 1. Basically, this circuit comprises a Hartley oscillator l, a square wave generator 2 for supplying a suitable quenching voltage wave, and a signal detector circuit 3 for rectifying a portion of the signal developed by the oscillator-l.

The Hartley oscillator l is, in part conventional, but includes a novel grid biasing arrangement which greatly improves the performance of the oscillator, per se, and the efficiency and stability of the super-regenerative system in general. The oscillator circuit comprises a vacuum tube ,4 having triode elements associatedwith a resonant tank circuit consisting of an inductance 5 and condenser 6. The connections between the elec' trodes of the triode 4 and the tank, circuit are conventional. Although a direct currentsource of plate voltage may be provided for the oscillator tube 4 if desired, it is preferred to omit this, and to derive the necessary plate power from the square wave generator 2 which functions. in a manner well known in the art, both as a quenching voltage source and as a plate power sourcc. A radio frequency choke coil is preferably included in the connection between the high voltage terminal of the square wave generator 2 and the anode of the triode 4. 8 is connected between the anode of triode 'd-and the grounded terminal of the tank circuit 5. This condenser provides a low. impedancepath for currents at the operating. frequency of the oscillator, but should present a relatively high impedance at the quenching frequency. A suitable antenna system 9 may be coupled. conductively or otherwise, to the tank circuit 56.

While a square wave quenching voltage generator has been specifically described and illustrated, it will be understood, of course, that the wave shape employed is not a critical factor, and the present invention is not limited to the use of any specific wave form.

Instead of the conventional type of grid biasing circuit. comprising a single grid leak and grid condenser, there is provided what may be re? ferred to as a compound leak and condenser circuit. In general, this compound R-,C circuit comprises a pair of B ,-.-C circuits in combination, one having a very longtime constant, and the other having avery" short time constant. In the drawing the. grid condenser l0 and the grid leak H occupy conventional physical positions in the circuit, but the time constant of this combination is much smallerthan would be (or could be) conventionally employed. Preferably, the capacity of the condenser IQ is small. e. g. of the order of magnitude of the tube capacitances. By way of example, a condenser might be selected whose capacitance was about that of the capacity of the grid to. the cathode and plate. The leak resistance H is preferably so chosen that the time constant of the combination 10-41 is less than the time constant of the tank circuit 5--6.. (The time constant of a parallel resonant circuit is equal to the ratio of twice the inductance of the circuit to the series resistance of the circuit.) Where resistance ii is verysmall it may be advantageous to insert an inductance l2, self-resonant at the carrier frequency, in series with the resistor H as shown. The purpose of this is to increase the impedance presented by the grid biasing circuit to. currents of carrier frequency. The optimum magnitudes for the el ements Ill. H and (Zane, of collrse, best determined by trial for each specific circuit.

The remaining element of the compound Rr-C circuit consists of the parallel combination of a resistor l3 and a condenser [4, the said combination having a relatively long tirne constant. By means of switch it the low r end f t is combination may be connected either to a source or positive p tenti l 16 (as shown o d rec ly to the grounded end of'the resonant-tank circuit 5-:6.

In ne xa r mental mb eim nt 9? h circui of Fi 1.. whlchwas awa ir ed and arr n ed to e t w t si na eueeeiese h 'Qr s 9f me aq les nd a quenchin r ewa s 9 o imate 0.. til c les th c ndens a a anada of 59. mi aeiqreia s and the e i e H bade resistan e Qt .599 ehms- Thi m n iea am lase t me 9 nt oi she- 1? a quarter microsecond. In the same embodiment A y-Pas d n the resistor l3 and the condenser 14 had the values 2 megohms and 0.5 microfarads respectively. The time constant of the latter circuit was thereFore about 1 second. In general the time constant of this circuit should be long compared to the period ot the lowest n qduletiqn frequency to be received The presenee oi? theselt resonant choke coil I2 has, of course, no effect on the magnitude of either of these time constants.

As is well known, the superregenerative circuit I may be usedboth as oscillator and detector. However it is preierred to provide an entirely separate detector circuit 3 which rectifies a portion of the high frequency oscillation developed by the oscillator. This detector may comprise a diode circuit coupled to the tank coil, or it may comprise a biased detector arrangement or a crystal or, indeed, any convenient type. In the drawing the detector 3 comprises a diode I! havin a load circuit la 49 and a pairoioutput terminals 23. Where the superreg'e'nerative sys tern is adjus ed t o erat creams-with he separate quenching, logarithmic: mode, the de: tector 3 should not be designed to, operateas a peak detector, since in 'the lnode reierred, to. @591 train of osc l a ions nildsup. WI th ,ame pli: tude lever substantially re 'rdless of t h e pntnde of the received signals, detectgr lis therefore preferablyconstruoted arranged to operate s apu se in ee s such. o e ation i e tam dhr. t y load n nse 9 wn chf s' ii ch a i n e: than. would be employed ior'pealf; deteetiqn.

Reference will'now' be mad'f to the modus operandi of j the system hereinbeiore described. Preferably the su rreeenrativ circui i l is adjusted to operate in'accordance withwhat i generally r dw as. h pa te qu n h logarithmic mode. stated 'Terni a'n-Ba'- dio Engineers I 1ancl loook,- "1943;; acaw-r m Book Company, page 662;, in separately quenched systems an oscillator (in Terman's' terminology the square wave generator 2)' alternately allows oscillations to buildup in the regenerative circult and then causes them to die'outfor tc be quenched. In the, logarithmic mode, the op erating conditions are'sQcHdsen that the meme tions are able to build up re anequilibrium-value before being quenched. In the presence or an incoming'sigjnal this equilibrium value is'i'eached sooner, and hence the 'area'under the 'e'nvelope of the oscillations'produced the oscillator l is increased. If the-"oscillations are rectified by a suitable detector, the detector-output will supply an indication of the incoming sig'nal'.

While the conventional grid leak-and grid condenser arrangement 61" prior sup 'r'regener nve receivers was efi ect'ive; to "some degree; 'ir' -provi'ding a relatively constant'mo'defof-oscillation, and hence relatively constant sensitivity, it'was found that the previous circuits were' irequentlyunsatisfactory. In the circuit-describedwithreference to Fig. 1, the e mpound ciIQuit arr-angement maintains the modeot oscillation-and.- the sensitivity practically constant" andunafiected by tuning,ftubereplacements; normal variations in supply voltages, or minor circuit changes. In the compound circuitarrangementthe long time constant circuit l S-T-l 4' tends to 'm'aintain constant grid current, and hence-automatically T e i? mee at 5 I 0-H and i3-ll which comprise the compound R-C circuit of the present invention, will best be understood by referring to Fig. 2, which is a simplified illustration of the control action offected by the compound R-C circuit over a number of cycles oi the oscillator operating frequency. The zero axis 22 may be taken to represent ground potential which, as is evident from Fig. 1, is also the direct current potential of the cathode of triode 4. The negative grid bias which is due to the long time constant R--C circuit l3-i4, is represented by the dashed-line 23. Due to the very long time constant of this circuit the negative bias produced thereby is relatively fixed, and consequently the dashed-line 23 is straight, and parallel to the zero line 22. The negative bias due to the R-C circuit ill-H of short time constant is denoted by the difference'between the dashedline 23 and the solid line 24; the overall bias is, of course, that denoted by the solid line 24. The high frequency component of voltage present at the grid of triode 4 is denoted at 25, and it will be evident'that this signal oscillates about the solid line 24 as a zero axis. As will be evident from the drawing, the condenser i0 receives a small negative charge during the peak portion of each positive alternation oi the oscillator voltage. This charge is represented by the short, steep portions of the line 24. The condenser Ill then discharges as shown until it is again charged by a subsequent positive alternation. Should the amplitude of the generated wave suddenly decrease, as shown at 26, the condenser i 0 will discharge as shown at 21, the discharge continuing until the voltage across the condenser H] has decreased to the point where, as at 28, the grid again swings slightly positive with respect to the zero line 22 and normal operating conditions are restored. When the amplitude of the wave 25 increases, as at 29, the condenser l0 receives a. larger-than-normal charge 30 due to the greaterthan-normal positive excursion 3! of the grid electrode, and in consequence the overall grid bias is increased sufllciently to maintain at a substantially constant value the subsequent positive excursions 32 of the grid. Because of the action of the short time constant circuit [0-4 I, flow of grid current is insured, and tank circuit excitation maintained, for practically all positive alternations of the oscillator voltage wave, thus efiectively preventing squegging, and insuring constant regeneration and a fixed mode of oscillation and sensitivity. It will be understood that the mode of operation illustrated in Fig. 2, while qualitatively representative of the operation of the circuit of Fig. 1, is not necessarily accurate quantitatively. For example, it is preferred that the constants of the compound R-C circuit be so selected that the grid-bias contribution of the short time constant circuit l0-li is only onefifth to one-tenth that of the contribution of the long time constant circuit |8-l9.

As has been indicated above, the compound biasing circuit, illustrated in conjunction with the superregenerative receiver of Fig. l, is also adapted for use with oscillators generally. A few remarks will sufllce to explain this more general application of the invention. The term bias" is here employed as referring to the amount by which the grid of the oscillator is more negative than the cathode. Under practical conditions, the excitation of an oscillator decreases with increasing bias, approaching zero as a limit, which limit it never reaches. With fixed bias the excitation increases rapidly with increasing R. F. tank Voltage. If the grid time constant be too long, then a sudden momentary decrease in R. F. tank voltage will eiiect a reduction of excitation, which will cause a still further decrease in the R. F. voltage, which further reduces the excitation, until finally the oscillator may be left with a large grid bias, but no R. F. tank voltage whatever. The system, accordingly, has ceased to oscillate, and will remain in this passive condition until the grid bias decays sufficiently to permit oscillation to recommence.

In order to prevent such an unstable mode of operation (frequently termed squegging or selfquenching) it has been found that the time constant of the grid leak, grid condenser circuit must be shorter than the decay time constant of the tank circuit. However since a simple grid bias circuit of such very short time constant would be impractical, the present invention contemplates the use of a compound RC circuit arrangement, one M circuit having a very long time constant, and the other having a very short time constant. The short time constant circuit, in the event of a diminution of R. F. tank voltage, causes a correspondingly rapid diminution of grid bias, thus increasing the excitation and preventing a further R. F. voltage decrease. The long time constant circuit preferably provides the greater portion of the total grid bias, and tends to maintain the grid current constant over a long period of time.

Although the present invention has been described with particular reference to a single embodiment, it will be understood that the invention is capable of various forms: of physical ex-- pression, and consequently is not limited to the specific disclosure, but only by the-scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a vacuum tube oscillator having a resonant circuit operatively connected to a tube having at least a grid, a cathode, and an anode, the improvement which consists in the provision of a grid biasing circuit connected to said grid and comprising a first RC circuit having a time constant which is smaller than the decay time constant of said resonant circuit, and a second R-C circuit having a time constant which is very large compared to the time constant of said firstmentioned R-C circuit.

2. In a vacuum tube oscillator having a resonant circuit operatively connected to a tube having at least a grid, a cathode, and an anode, said oscillator being subject to periodic variations in its mode of oscillation, the improvement which consists in the provision of a grid biasing circuit connected to said grid and comprising a first M circuit whose time constant is smaller than the decay time constant of said resonant circuit,

and a second R-C circuit whose time constant is long compared to the period of said periodic variations.

3. A superregenerative detector circuit comprising a resonant circuit, a vacuum tube operatively coupled to said resonant circuit so as to provide an oscillator circuit, a grid capacitor having a value of the order of the inter-electrode capacitance of said tube. a grid leak resistor having a value such that the time constant of the grid leak and capacitor circuit is less than the decay time constant of said resonant circuit, a time constant circuit connected in series with said grid leak resistor, the time constant of said last-named circuit being large compared to the 2': time of one cycle of the lowest modulation fre- 4.- qiiecc t9 eeeceived. eesimeees cr e i dically enchis s eid sweete wit o cause o c llaime i said resonant fitlfil l eeriediccll u side.

A supe rcs nerativc detecto circu mprisinga vacuum tube connected in an oscillatory r uit, a d ca ac tor d rid ee e o r an em n havin su h alues t the m nstant the eof i less hac he deca t e m an 9i a d ci a ry circuit: a t ns circuit connected in series with said grid leak resistor and having a time constant large co nnared to thetime of one cycle oi the lowest modulation irequency to be received, and means for periodically reducing the slate potential of said vacuum tube to such-value as to permit oscillations in said oscillatory circuit periodically to subside.

5. A superrogenerative detector circuit coninrising vacuum tube connected in an oscillatory circuit, a grid capacitor and grid leak resistor arrangement ha ing such values that the time constant thereof isless than the decay time con stant of said oscillatory circuit, a time constant circuit connected in series with said grid leak resistor and having a time constant large c01n pared to the time of one cycle of the lowest modulation frequency to be received, and means for periodically quenchingoscillations of said oscilor circuit 6. A superregenerative detector circuit comprisingan oscillatory circuit, a vacuum tube e e n, d. apacitor nd le k ra en ice a s or e t me cen ant tha h d c y time constant of said oscillatory circuit, a circuit connected inseries with said grid leak to maintain substantially constant grid current, and asource of quenching potential for the anode circuit of said tube.

1. A superregenerative receiver comprising a resonant circuit, a vacuum tube operatively com net ed thereto so as to p fQvide an oscillator circuit, said tube having an anode, a cathode and a a grid capacitor and leak arrangement hence t ne eeee eet new than decay u e. a Hai Q; id l r sist 9 rwcted in a di ct cu ent rc i etwe saidv thode and said g id, b th o aid resistors bein t rnal to t e anode-current circuit o said ime one cf s r d l aks ca ies res stance. whichis very large con gared to. that oi-tl e other, a large ond ser c nnected in shu t t a d rid leak of large resistance to provide an circuit .of long timecqnstant, saidg-rid coupling condenser and said grid lea]; of small resistance constituting an of sl cr-ttin e. (2%! stant less than the decay time con tant 9i said resonant circuit.

. E- reenter,

R'EFEIE NQES CHER The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED. ST TES. m 

